The Dance
by Emerald Night
Summary: The journey has ended and now Kagome has to choose between the world she has come to love and the one she left behind...but to let Inu Yasha go would become the choice that breaks her heart...Songfic!


DISCLAIMER:  I do not own any of the Inu Yasha characters neither do I own the lyrics of the song The Dance…trust me…I wish I did! (:

**The Dance **

_Looking back on the memory of_

_The dance we shared, beneath the stars above_

It seemed like it had all started just yesterday, but it had been two years since the day Kagome had fallen through a well and met Inu Yasha.  He had been pinned to a tree, screaming another's name.  That at least had not changed over the years.  She ran her hand along the edge of the well, staring down into its murky depths.  This well had changed her life and her heart forever.  

She could feel the magic of the well pulling her, ready to transport back to her own time, back to her family, 500 years into the future.  Taking a step back from the power that was threatening to claim her, Kagome closed her eyes, she wasn't ready yet.  She couldn't leave the life she had created, the friends she had made and the love she had found.  She was stuck, stuck somewhere between the two worlds that had become her life.  To return to one would mean to long for the other.

She walked away from the well, unable to decide and unwilling to choose.  Deep in thought, Kagome's feet unconsciously followed a well worn path; she had traveled its length many times.  She found herself standing before the God Tree, where it had all started.

The stars had twinkled brightly in the sky and one pale shaft of moonlight had lit the solitary figure, pinned to a tree by a miko's arrow.

He had thought she was Kikyou, his lost love, the one who had betrayed him.  She thought he was rude.  She had pulled that arrow out of him, breaking the seal that had bound him to that tree for 50 years.

Then she had shattered the jewel, the Shikon no Tama, and it had all begun.  The battle for the jewel shards, the battle for life, and the battle for love, and now it was over and they had won.

The road to victory had been long and it had been difficult.  She'd been injured and kidnapped, and she had seen the violence of bloodshed and the ruthless face of death.  But there had been those brief and fleeting moments of happiness and joy.  It was those times she would miss, the ones she would dream of, the ones that made her heart ache for what she couldn't have.

_For a moment all the world was right_

_How could I have known that you'd ever say good bye_

It was those breaks between battles, exhausted and weary, when they would huddle around a campfire, seeking its warmth and its strength, the silence of the night a welcome change from the violent sounds of battle.  In those few hours between night and morning everything was right and anything was possible.  In the dark twilight she was an ordinary girl who had fallen in love with an ordinary boy.  She would fall asleep knowing that he was there, silently watching over them, watching over her.  It was only then that Kagome allowed herself to hope, allowed herself to believe that one day Inu Yasha would love her as much as she had come to love him. 

Now she had come to a crossroads, each path leading to a different world, a different life.  But neither one led to him, neither one would lead her to the arms of Inu Yasha.

Not once in the years they had traveled together had she believed that one day he would not be there to protect her.

But he had chosen, the mysterious road of fate had taken him away from her _and I helped_ she thought, a bittersweet smile touching her face.  She had made her wish on that sacred jewel, she had sacrificed her happiness for the sake of his.

~~Flashback~~

_They all stood there, Miroku, Sango, Shippou, Kaede, and Inu Yasha; stunned and unable to comprehend what she had just done._

_The red and white figure that stood next to Inu Yasha glowed a bright a pink, briefly blinding those in the near vicinity.  The light dimmed, and the figure stood before them once again, but she was different, she had changed._

_A rosy tint infused the cheeks that had once been pale, a warm shade of honey replacing the ghostly pallor of her former skin, and her eyes sparkled brightly with life and love as she turned to the hanyou beside her. _

_She was back, the trails of white that had once followed her vanished, they were no longer necessary, she had a soul.  The figure turned her eyes to Kagome, whose cupped hands were now empty, the Shikon no Tama had disappeared, its purpose fulfilled.  _

_"Why" she asked the one who had made the wish. Unable to believe such an unselfish act._

_Kagome looked at Inu Yasha, she could see the same question reflected in his eyes._

_"It was the right thing to do.  You, who had protected the jewel and died for it.  You were taken from this world unjustly; I merely fixed what should never have happened.  I came to this world because you left it, in the end I believe this is what I was meant to do, I came here to save you."  Kagome finished, knowing that was only part of the truth.  She wanted him to be happy and the only way to accomplish that was to give him the choice and give him the chance to have what he had tragically lost. _

_The figure merely nodded at the younger miko's explanation.  The rest of the group could only stare at the girl who had grown so much over the years.  They silently admired her wisdom and her sacrifice._

_Kagome watched as the shock began to fade from the eyes of Inu Yasha and something else began to fill their golden depths, love for her, Kikyou, the one from his past he could never forget.  _

_He walked up to Kagome, lightly cupping her face in his hand and then suddenly pulled her into his warm embrace.  She felt the tears begin to fall slowly down her cheeks, she knew what was coming, she had expected it, but it still hurt.  With one wish she had given Kikyou a new soul, and she had lost Inu Yasha._

_"Goodbye…Kagome." He whispered quietly in her ear.  Despite the pain in her heart she managed to smile as he reached for Kikyou's hand and walked off into the distance, leaving her to watch as the one she loved walked out of her sight and out of her life...forever._

~~End Flashback~~

_And now, I'm glad I didn't know_

_The way it all would end, the way it all would go_

She hadn't known that wish she would make, she hadn't known that in the end she would willingly let him go.  She had always thought that she would wish to stay here, in Feudal Japan, with him, with Inu Yasha.  But when the time had come she knew what she had to do, she knew what was right.  Inu Yasha and Kikyou, their love had been so brutally destroyed yet still managed to live on.  They were destined to be together, and who was she to mess with the course of fate?  

She wondered, if she had known that it was her own destiny to reunite the lost lovers, would she have had the courage to let him go.  Would it have hurt less if she had known, if she could have prevented herself from falling in love with him?

_Our lives are better left to chance_

_I could have missed the pain, but I would have had to miss the dance_

No, she realized.  She would have missed so much.  Her love for him had given her strength, it had filled her heart, and it had made her happy.

Life was so much richer, so much more appreciated when it was unexpected.  To know the path of your life, to know the events that would define it was to be tempted to change it. 

Looking back, she would not change anything.  Inu Yasha was her first love, she would treasure him and the memories he had given her forever, they were priceless.

The agony was unbearable; her heart was bleeding and broken.  She ached for him, she longed to hear his voice, to see his face, and she yearned for him.  She mourned the loss of her life as if she had died, and she knew it would be a long time before she healed, before she would be able to move on.  But it had all been worth it in the end.

If she had been able to escape the pain, she would have never known the beauty of love and that was all that kept her sane, all that kept her going; the hope that someday she would find it again, with someone else.  She would find it again, and when she did she would recognize it because once she had tasted it.

Gazing at the God Tree one last time she raised her hand and laid it on the spot he had once been pinned.  Bowing her head she closed her eyes and whispered her own goodbye, to the man and the world.

She walked away, traveling the path that led to the well one last time.  _It was time she thought _to go home.__

And with that she jumped over its edge, feeling the soft waves of magic surround her, transporting her back to the family that she loved.

_It's my life, its better left to chance_

_I could have missed the pain, but I would have had to miss the dance_

A swatch of red sat on the wooden edge of the old well, gently fluttering in the wind.  A sash of cotton, a fabric that did not belong in this time, it had belonged to a girl of the future, a miko who had saved the world.

Through the years the memory of the girl slowly faded and her adventure became legend, but the red ribbon remained, forever proof that she had once been there.


End file.
